The Gamer Flag

After being given the assignment to create a flag for a group of my choosing, I decided to represent a group near and dear to my heart: gamers. I had to find an immediately-recognizable symbol that would resonate with the group, yet be familiar to those outside it. Following numerous failed depictions of a joystick, each simpler than the last, I decided it was too complex a shape to use on a flag. I needed to simplify further and go back to the roots of gaming. The challenge then became how to unambiguously depict the directional pad, the perfect symbol of console gaming.

That was trickier said than done, as shape could be simplified too much, and resemble the addition symbol instead. The inner geometric shapes representing a D-Pad's classic surface details sealed the deal. The D-Pad looked striking on a solid background, but no single color represented the history of gaming, so I settled on the 4 basic colors used on most controllers' main buttons. Nintendo fans will recognize the shades and their orientation immediately.